Wholesale inflation fell for the second consecutive month to 1.31 per cent in August due to cheaper vegetables, food and fuel, government data released on Tuesday showed.

The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was 2.04 per cent in July. It was (-) 0.46 per cent in August last year.

"Positive rate of inflation in August 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, processed food products, other manufacturing, manufacture of textiles and manufacture of machinery & equipment etc," the industry ministry said in a statement.

As per the data, inflation in food items was 3.11 per cent in August against 3.45 per cent in July. This was led by declining prices of vegetables, which recorded a deflation of 10.01 per cent in August compared to 8.93 per cent in July.

Inflation in potatoes and onions continued to be high at 77.96 per cent and 65.75 per cent in August.

The fuel and power category witnessed deflation of 0.67 per cent in August against inflation of 1.72 per cent in July.

Data released last week showed retail inflation was at 3.65 per cent in August on higher prices of vegetables. This was higher than 3.60 per cent in July.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which mainly takes into account retail inflation while framing monetary policy, kept the benchmark interest rate or repo rate unchanged for the ninth consecutive time in August at 6.5 per cent.

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